If the time spent stays the same but more stuff gets washed that's still a win for living standards. If you reduce the cost of something then that labor gets s

If the time spent stays the same but more stuff gets washed that's still a win for living standards. If you reduce the cost of something then that labor gets spent elsewhere, maybe on more of the same but then you have more to show for it. Labor hours are fairly fungible at scale like that. Your cuts are less likely to get infected when your clothes don't have the manure you put on the field last week on them.